Apparatus for disseminating pulverulent material



J. H. HAYIM 3,162,332

APPARATUS FOR DISSEMINATING PULVERULENT MATERIAL Dec. 22, 1964 Filed Oct. 15, 1962 FA a m M I I a my F... O \-r/ 2 z w. 7 W 3: L f 1.? W, I) "m, U" M Z1 F m il 4 M 9 m B M QLF IIII- 7 R w Inventor 8255 PM 7/: WM WHY/M United States Patent Ofifice Patented Dec. 22, 1964 3,162,332 APPARATUS FOR DISSEMINATING PULVERULENT MATERIAL Joseph Hayim Hayim, 14 Lowndes Square, London, England Filed Oct. 15, 1962, Ser. No. 230,428 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Oct. 19, 1961, 37,568/61 1 Claim. (Cl. 222-193) This invention concerns apparatus for disseminating pulverulent material. Whilst apparatus in accordance with the invention is applicable to many purposes, for instance the dissemination of pulverulent pest control, fertilizing and other crop treating materials in the vicinity of growing crops, for instance in horticulture and agriculture, and for the projection of pulverulent fire extinguishing materials at fires, an important use for the apparatus of the invention is the projection of pulverulent material such as pepper and/or a staining dye at an attacker for personal defence.

Thus, a principal object of the present invention is to provide a compact, readily operable apparatus capable of controllably discharging a pulverulent material in a specified direction, such as at the face of an attacker for personal defence of, for instance, a pay-roll guardian.

Apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises, broadly, a container for gas under pressure, valve means for controlling the escape of the gas from such container to a gas-discharge nozzle connected to said valve means, a receptacle for pulverulent material to be disseminated by the apparatus, and a pulverulent material discharge nozzle communicating with said receptacle and so co-operating with said gas discharge nozzle that discharge of gas from the latter causes pulverulent material contained in said receptacle to enter the material discharge nozzle for entrainment by the discharged gas and projection from such nozzle.

In apparatus in accordance with the invention, the gas discharge nozzle and the material discharge nozzle jointly co-operate to act as an injector type mixing device that draws the pulverulent material into the stream of gas from the gas discharge nozzle and entrains such material in the gas so as to be projected from the material discharge nozzle as a jet of gas-dispersed material called herein, for convenience, a gas/powder mixture.

The valve means may be of any suitable form but conveniently such means are trigger-controlled so as to be easily operable by the user to facilitate aiming and controlled discharge of the gas/powder mixture in jets of user-controlled duration. For instance, the valve means may conveniently comprise a spring-loaded needle valve opened against the spring effort by the operation of a trigger lever.

The gas container may conveniently comprise a generally cylindrical vessel forming part of a handle-like body by which the apparatus may be held. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the gas container and the pulverulent material receptacle are both generally cylindrical in form and arranged side-by-side in parallelism so as jointly to constitute a body that may readily be gripped in the hand.

Any suitable gas may be contained in the gas container and the gas may be contained either in the compressed gaseous state or in the liquid state. A suitable gas for most purposes is carbon dioxide, since this is readily obtainable and may exist in the liquid state in the gas container under a reasonable pressure.

To facilitate feeding of the pulverulent material to the material discharge nozzle, the material receptacle may have an air inlet at a point remote from the region of its communication with the material discharge nozzle. For

instance, the material discharge nozzle may be arranged near one end of the receptacle and the opposite end of the latter may be equipped With an air inlet provided with a fine screen or non-return valve means to prevent material contained in the receptacle from escaping from the latter through said air inlet.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the material receptacle may include a diaphragm or piston separating the pulverulent material in the receptacle from the air inlet so as to prevent leakage of the material from the receptacle through the air inlet, the diaphragm or piston being adapted to move in response to the pressure differential existing between the material discharge nozzle and the air inlet, during operation of the apparatus, to transport the pulverulent material towards the discharge nozzle for entrainment by the gas stream flowing therethrough.

The nature of the pulverulent material placed in the said receptacle will, of course, depend upon the use to which apparatus is to be put. In the case of use of the apparatus as a defensive weapon, a suit-able pulverulent material is pepper since this material projected at the eyes of an attacker will incapacitate the latter without, however, causing permanent physiological damage. However, other pulverulent materials may be used for this purpose and in particular a staining dye material, such as crystal violet may be used alone or in admixture with pepper or some other incapacitating material, the purpose of the dye being to stain the skin or clothing of an attacker as a means of providing for subsequent identification of the latter.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the single figure of the accompanying drawing, which figure is a part-sectional view of apparatus primarily intended for personal defence.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a generally cylindrical gas container 1 and a generally cylindrical pulverulent material receptacle 2 arranged side-by-side in parallelism so as to be readily grasped in the hand.

The gas container 1 is in the form of a bulb having a screw-threaded neck 3 that is received within a correspondingly screw-threaded socket 4 of a valve block 5, the socket 4 having a sealing washer 6 that engages the end of the neck 3 to form a gas-tight seal between the neck 3 and the valve block 5.

The socket 4 is constituted by one end of a passage through the valve block 5, this passage having a reduceddiameter portion '7 abutting the inner end of the washer 6 and, spaced from the washer 6, a smaller diameter portion 7a in which a valve needle 8 is reciprocable, the needle 8 co-acting with the inner end of the bore of Washer 6 which thus constitutes a seat for the valve needle. The washer 6 is conveniently formed of nylon.

The valve needle 8 is also reciprocable axially of a sleeve 9 located in the valve block passage, a sealing ring 10 encircling the needle 8 between the inner end of sleeve 9 and the adjacent end of thepassage portion 7a. The sleeve 9 has opposed slots in its walls, a retaining screw 11 in the valve block 5 entering one such slot to locate and retain the sleeve 9 in the passage.

The valve block 5 has parallel lugs 12 between which a trigger lever 13 is disposed, this lever having an operating trigger 13a extending generally parallel with the passage terminating in socket 4 and also having a finger 13b extending through the slots in sleeves 9 to engage the outer end of the valve needle 8. The lever 13 is pivoted on a pin 14 extending through the lugs 12 so that rocking of the lever so as to move the trigger 13a away from the valve block causes the valve needle 8 to be moved, by the finger 13b, into sealing engagement with the washer 6. A spring 15 is partly located in a blind bore 16 in the block and engages the trigger l3 a to urge this away from the valve block.

It will be understood that movement of the trigger 13a towards the valve block Sand against the thrust of spring 15 permits'gas pressure in the; container 1 to lift the needle '8 from the washer 6 to enable gas to flow through the latter to the passage portion 7. a

A transverse screw-threaded socket '17 opens into the passage portion 7 and receives the screw-threaded rear end 1 l0 within a material-discharge nozzle 19 extending'diametof a gas-discharge nozzle 18 that is arranged coaxially rically across the upper part of the receptacle 2'.- The wall of nozzle19 within the receptacle 2' has an opening 20 through which pulverulent material 21 Within the rec'tept'acle'can pass to the nozzle 19 for entrainment in the gas'stream issuing from nozzle 18 when'the valve needle Sis lifted;

The arrangement of nozzles 18, 19 will be recognised as'that of an injector-type miner, gas-'discharge" from nozzle 18 causing a pressure reduction in the rear part of nozzle 19 so that air and material 21in the receptacle 2 is'dra'wn into nozzle 19 via opening 20 to' mix with the gas and be discharged as ajet from nozzle 19.

The lower end of the receptacle Zisopen to the atmosphere to-facilitatemovement of material 21 to the opening 20 of nozzle 19. The open end of the receptacle 2 To prevent unwanted loss of material 21 through nozzle 19 this may, as shown, be equipped with a push-on cap 24 thatwill be blown oif the nozzle when the apparatus is operated.

- The above described preferred embodiment of theinvent-ion may be constructed with dimenisons enabling it to be readily carried in the hand or in the pocket and yet to be capable of providing several shots each of some seconds duration;

Iclaim: 'An apparatus for disseminating pulverulent material,

.comprisi-ng a container for gas under pressure; an elonmay be covered by a fine mesh screen-to permit ready in- 1 gress of air to the receptacle to flow to opening 20 .for entnaining material 21, but the illustrated arrangement is preferred, in which a light piston 22' plugs the lower end of the receptacl'e 2 positively to retainmaterial 21 therein and which is'rnovable upwardly, under the pressure dif f ferential to which it is exposed upon discharge "of gas" from nozzlels to carry the material-21 towards opening Y 20. The piston 22 has a domed upper end-ton which is centrallyse'cured a flexible (egr rubber) disc 23 which acts friction-ally to prevent descent of the piston 22 under the weight of materiaL-ZI-but' which deflects upon upwards movement of the piston'to hamper such movement only to a small extent. The piston 22 is attachedto receptacle 2 by'means of connecting cord 25 one end of which is held on the receptacle by bolt 26 and the other end of which is connected to piston 22 by bolt 27. T

LOUIS J. DEMB O,-Primary Examiner;

gated gas discharge nozzle in communication with said container; valve means controlling flow from said container to said gas discharge nozz1e;.a receptacle for the pulverulerit material; an elongated pulverulentmaterial discharge nozzle coaxially surrounding saidg-as; discharge nozzle and in commu'nication' with said receptacle, flow of said gas under pressure through said gas; discharge nozzle causing a gas pressure entrairiing'pulverulentmaterial from the receptacle and through the pulverulent mate- "to permit the gas flow, and'the atmosphere, whereby the pulverulent material-in the receptacle is transported towards the pulverulent material discharge nozzle.

I References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,029,408 2/36. Bramsen ..'222--193 2,430,470 11/47 Keefe et '222-195 'X 2,548,750 4/51' Stroop 222-3 X 2,908,422 10/59 Braun 22-193 s. F. C LEMAN, Examiner. 

